The kit and I arrived yesterday afternoon; a long night into day. The seamless transition from the Thames Valley to mid-town Mumbai went seamlessly. Or would have done had we not been diverted – heavy traffic and fuel issues – 300 miles north to Ahmedabad. With an hour and a half on the tarmac refuelling, we eventually (after being ten minutes ahead of schedule) arrived three hours late. D’oh! Still, life in the newly renovated Mumbai airport made a rare sight for sore eyes. Of course, there was still a three day route march to reach Immigration and baggage reclaim. It was with no little relief that I spied Mayur and Reality’s driver outside the airport terminal and doing it tough in the heat and humidity. We made for one seriously happy and relieved group. With a little prompting and a lot of shoving we managed to fit all six bags inside the 4×4 without having resort to the roof which we would have done had Jet been just a tad more generous. The relatively light afternoon traffic saw the bags and I deposited on the temple steps around 3.45. This meant a gentle hour or so to watch the world go by before opening time. Half an hour later – thinking I needed a little aftercare perhaps – Asim, Mayur and chums arrived bearing food and drink. A little after five o’clock I was finally reunited with my seventh floor eyrie. There was just time before falling into bed for a little light shopping. My Parsee baker, having just returned from Vancouver, bemoaned Mumbai’s 90% humidity and wished he’d stayed away from his bakery, as far away perhaps as Canada; while my newspaper vendor complained, this being both Diwali and the start of the Marriage Season, that there was no news in his papers. Hot, sticky and sleepless: it was good to be back!
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 17:07:49 +0000
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